Firefighters arrived at 4:21 a.m. and had the blaze under control by 4:34, Assistant Chief Gary Allyn said. ``They did a nice job,'' he said.

Alex, his 16-year-old brother, Gregory Garchitorena, and Anthony Volpe, a 16-year-old friend who was spending the night, were taken to a local hospital. Alex and Gregory Garchitorena were treated for smoke inhalation in the emergency room. Volpe was admitted for observation, Allyn said.

The two-story house at 67 Somerset St., built in 1924, had recently undergone extensive renovations. It was equipped with a smoke detector, but the batteries had been removed, Allyn said. The house also had a fire alarm system.

The fire started in a second-floor storage room. An adjacent bedroom sustained significant heat, smoke and water damage. Heat and smoke permeated a second bedroom as well.

The house was not structurally damaged, Allyn said. But he estimated that it would cost $50,000 to clean and repair damage to the second floor.

The blaze is the fourth serious structure fire in town since Jan. 8, when a duplex on Washington Circle was destroyed. A 15-year-old Hall High School student, Chris Bailey, died of smoke inhalation and his grandfather, Richard Bailey, was critically injured.